Chapter 30 - 3GirlForU

Liz shook her head gently and asked, “Like…so anyone around you? Just randomly?”

I clarified some of the rules of what I’d been able to figure out about the phenomena. Within arm’s reach of me for several minutes. I omitted how the effect seemed to be compounded by multiple exposures since that was just a single example offered by Ben. Not worth mentioning.

Chewing lightly on my lip and rubbing my leg, I asserted, “I mean…I’m not doing anything. It just sorta happens. Like I have a force field around me or something.”

Arching an eyebrow, Brian picked at three long notes before asking, “So like…if I just held my hand out towards you would I have long, girl nails?”

Hadn’t really thought about that. It seemed like it mattered that people were within the limit with their whole selves for it to work. He also added, “And what if I hold out a really long stick? Does me touching the stick count? Or does it only work on people?”

So many questions and all I could do was spasm my lips a bit to mouth words before finally letting out, “I have no idea. It’s just kinda. Like I umm…I haven’t really figured it out yet. All I’ve seen is people sitting next to me need to be, as I said, about within my arm’s reach for long enough and something happens.” Vague and true.

Liz gave me a long look and asked, “Not messing around?”

My answer was interrupted by Cody’s arrival with a slow, calm wave and a smile as he asked, “Sup? Did you tell them?”

Everyone looked at Cody and he gave an animated wiggle of his eyebrows to express an unsaid, “What?”

I retreated to what was left of my food. The eldritch frybominations were only manageable a few at a time with a big gulp of water (if only I’d grabbed some ketchup packets). The beans were going to be a last resort. Liz gave me a look and explained, “Kenzie said just being around her makes people more girly.”

Cody raised his head and said a long, “Ooooohhhhhh” before looking over at me. I’d told so many versions of events that I wasn’t entirely sure which version I’d told him. All I could offer up was a grimace and the words, “It’s been a crazy week with everything…”

Leaning against the wall, Cody asked, “So, did you wind up in trouble for chewing out your teacher?”

I shrugged at that. “Not really. But his way of dealing with me was…dumb.” I gave the teacher’s name and Liz nodded. We’d had him for different years. I amended, “In class and stuff…”

From Liz’s wave, I knew that Kenny was coming back. Brian looked up from his guitar and asked, “Should you be in class though? I mean if you change people and don’t know why…you should be in a hospital till they figure out what’s causing it.”

He always had a calm, surprisingly-collected voice. In years later I always had trouble believing he was truly genuine in his tone because he had the look of someone who didn’t take themselves seriously. Like a stoner about to pull a "just messing with ya" psyche every moment, but that moment never came. 

I rubbed at my fingers. The horrifrying fries (sorry, I’ll stop…), even though I’d eaten few, had already made them greasy. My fingertips were raw but only a little cracked. For too long a period in junior high, they’d been so cracked it was painful to do things that required a lot of work with my touch. I used an old napkin from my backpack to gently clean them.

With a sigh, I noted, “They said I could do that. But my parents are against it. A doctor I go to a lot said I’m fine, so they can’t keep me out of school.”

Narrowing his light-toned eyes, Cody looked around but didn’t say anything. Brian persisted, “But should you be here? You said you had a shit storm, and something happened to your friend, Wes. That sounds bad.”

It was a valid point. Still, Cody held his tongue. I clenched my hands together and set my tray in my lap as I answered, “It’s already bad. Wes turned into a girl and still hasn’t turned back…”

Cody nodded slowly and folded his arms. Brian leaned his head. Liz was the only one to scoot away. Finally, Kenny showed up and exclaimed, “Super-call-a-titty fuck it all! That is done. Yeah…uhh…sup?”

It took him a few moments to gauge the mood of the others. He took notice of his sister (who, as usual, had no reaction to his casual swearing) and asked, “What?”

She clung to the arms of her windbreaker and asked, “Could you sit over by me?”

I wanted to point out there were plenty of places where Kenny could sit and not be within arm’s reach, but I’d already pointed out that I had a loose sense of the rules.

Kenny leaned back, turning his backpack around, and questioned, “Why? I was going to play Magic with Cody since I finally got my cube back.”

Liz looked to me expectantly. I clenched my hands again and managed, “I seem to be cursed with the ability to change people so they’re more girlish…guys too…till they become girls…”

Thus began a whole new cycle of confusion and questioning. Cody settled it quickly with a Magic analogy I’ve since forgotten but it was entirely clever, like so much Cody came up with. The end result was a cautious look from Kenny and the question, “Is this far enough away?”

Cody sneered and said, “It’s fine. I’ll sit closer so you don’t have to and let’s play.”

“Dude, what?”

Brian, who’d been quiet after his question, strummed another half-hearted melody with barely-spoken lyrics before noting, “I’m kinda curious. But you probably shouldn’t do that…”

With a shrug, Cody came within arm’s reach of me and said, “If it freaks me out, then I can just bolt.” I was self-conscious of how close he was. It was a little uncomfortable, even for normal sitting around, especially without a desk separating one person from another. Liz glared but held her tongue.

Nothing could convince Cody to move. He noted, “Hey, I’m man enough to be a girl.”

That seemed to be the final word on the matter as Kenny nervously took out his cube of cards and a board to keep them from lying on the cement. This time, the ground was free of ants, so it looked like a decent opportunity to play. There were eddies from around the building but nothing like the rough, sudden dust devils which sometimes kicked up.

I had no idea what they were doing. To this day, I still have no idea. There were cards laid out and turned one way or the other and words were said between them. All that was on my mind was what would happen first with the changes. It took a half-startled moment for me to realize Brian had asked me a question, which he had to repeat.

“So, it’s just guys turning into girls and girls becoming…more-so girls?”

After pondering a moment, I answered, “So far as I know. Just what I’ve seen.”

He tightened his eyes and looked out to the stadium, as he mulled, “So…not everyone is permanently changed…just your friend. Why?”

I hugged both arms to my stomach and decided there was no point in avoiding it. “I got upset at him. He’s the one I dated for a little while. It was just dumb, but I thought about like…when he laughed at my writing and that just snowballed into fuming inside my head and wanting to see something happen to him…”

Brian dangled his guitar and asked, “So, you can control it?”

I told him and the others, “Not really. I mean it only happened then and I would never want to do it again and it hasn’t happened since.”

With this, he gave a little smirk and reiterated, “As I said, you can control it. But you didn’t know you could do that. Now you do, and since you never want it to happen again…it hasn’t.”

Liz covered her mouth with her eyes turning often to her brother as she exclaimed, “Don’t do anything to Kenny!”

Cody turned his head, gestured to himself, and pointed out, “Dude, I’m right here too. No concern? Really?”

Brian shrugged and noted, “You kinda made yourself a guinea pig here.”

Cody pouted as he turned a card and muttered, “Still…”

At least he hadn’t changed yet. Kenny scooted back, like his sister had told him to stay on his side of the room. He leaned forward to play his cards and kept himself protected from the pavement with his backpack. I went right for the ‘fruit’ combo. The beans would have to stay behind. I already had plenty of other troublesome things leaking out of me. I didn’t need to add to them.

Following a breath, Brian casually added, “Of course, this begs the question…is there anything else really important you don’t know about this?”

The question picked at my brain like a needle. My neck felt tight and I was ever more aware that Cody was this close to me. I was a bomb…no. I wasn’t a bomb. Fuck. I couldn’t think of myself as a bomb. That could turn me into…something I didn’t want to imagine if I was only in control of what I knew about. Damn that question. The others didn’t seem to know what to say either.

I focused on the notion it was nothing and I wasn’t a bomb, and nothing was going to happen like I imagined in class. Nothing troublesome. Nothing crazy. If I could think of it like that then it didn’t have to be a wild forest of ideas. It could be something I could keep contained. I could even…imagine that nothing was leaking out and I didn’t turn boys into girls anymore or do any of the other stuff I was worried about. I could imagine I was just normal and surrounded by friends who didn’t need to be afraid of me.

Please…

Probably too much to put in a notion, a wish, or anything else as Cody’s voice reverted to its form from freshman year with a soft, younger-than-he-was quality which tilted to the girl side of androgynous.

He tried it out with an unfamiliar giggle and said, “So, it actually works. Sweeet…”

I gave a slight, too uncomfortable laugh in the shadow of Cody’s as I answered, “I’m glad you’re not freaking out. And I have no idea why this is happening. The only difference in my life is I’m eating wheat now.”

Liz kept a keen eye on her brother as she asked, “Maybe you should like stop?”

Art by Alexis Rillera/Anirhapsodist